Identifying The Master Switch And Planning Irf Member Ids; Planning Irf Topology And Connections - NEC QX-S5500G Series Installation Manual

Installation Guide
QX-S5500G Series Ethernet Switches
Distribute the IRF member switches in different racks to implement the top-of-rack

(ToR) access solution for a data center.
As your business grows, you can plug QX-S5500G Series Ethernet Switches into the IRF
fabric to increase the switching capacity without any topology change or replacement.
 NOTE:
An IRF fabric of QX-S5500G Series can compose at most 9.

5.2.2 Identifying the master switch and planning IRF member IDs

Determine which switch you want to use as the master for managing all member switches
in the IRF fabric.
An IRF fabric has only one master switch. You configure and manage all member switches
in the IRF fabric at the CLI of the master switch. IRF member switches automatically elect a
master.
You can affect the election result by assigning a high member priority to the intended
master switch. For more information about master election, see QX-S5500G Series
Ethernet Switches Configuration Guides.
Prepare an IRF member ID assignment scheme. An IRF fabric uses member IDs to
uniquely identify and manage its members, and you must assign each IRF member switch
a unique member ID.

5.2.3 Planning IRF topology and connections

You can create an IRF fabric in daisy chain topology or more reliable ring topology. In ring
topology, the failure of one IRF link does not cause the IRF fabric to split as in daisy chain
topology. Instead, the IRF fabric changes to a daisy chain topology without interrupting
network services.
You connect the IRF member switches through IRF ports, the logical interfaces for the
connections between IRF member switches. Each IRF member switch has two IRF ports:
5-3
5. Setting up an IRF fabric